Understanding Citizen Actions in Public Encounters: Towards a Multi-Channel Process Model

This paper presents ongoing research that is part of a larger engaged research project which aims to investigate what public services are suitable for digitalization. The aim of our paper is twofold. First, we explore and describe citizens’ core actions in their interaction with public organizations during application for public benefits. We develop a generic process model for how this interaction can be captured empirically. The model is based on a review of previous studies from e.g., channel choice, multi-channel management, and service management, and provides a holistic view of the core actions in public service delivery as seen from the perspective of the citizen. Second, we add a channel behavior dimension to this model to create a service blueprint template that can be used to capture and analyze citizens’ multichannel behavior related to benefit application. Hereby we contribute to the digital government field with a research methodology for investigation of citizens’ continuous channel behavior during public service encounters.